Lew calls for urgent online GST changes

Retail veteran Solomon Lew wants to bring forward the introduction of GST on all overseas goods bought online before more Australian businesses go bust.

Imported products worth up to $1,000 do not currently attract the GST, but that will change in July 2017 when low-value imported goods will face the same tax regime as locally made goods.

Mr Lew, the chairman of retail group Premier Investments, which owns brands including Portmans, Jay Jays and Just Jeans, welcomes the change but says it needs to be introduced sooner by the federal government.

"We’d like them to bring it forward if it’s possible," he told reporters after Premier Investments’ annual general meeting on Friday.

"It’ll be good to get back on a level playing field because the Australian retailer has been disadvantaged dramatically, and the Australian government has missed out on a huge amount of revenue.

"If they could bring it in by April 1, we’d be happier – just give us a better Easter."

Mr Lew also again called for changes to weekend penalty rates, arguing the current regime is incompatible with the rest of the world and doesn’t factor in that most consumers shop on weekends and online.

"Our own experience in the United Kingdom shows that, without penalty rates, we can employ more people who want to work on weekends," Mr Lew told shareholders.

Penalty rates mean Premier pays its Australian employees working on Sundays more than double the hourly rate it pays Sunday workers in the UK, Singapore or New Zealand, he said.

The workplace umpire, the Fair Work Commission, is looking into penalty rates for retail and hospitality workers who usually get double the rate of their base pay on Sundays, with many retailers wanting changes.

Premier chief executive Mark McInnes said the company supported a Productivity Commission recommendation that hospitality and retail workers be subject to one weekend penalty rate.

Meanwhile, he declined to provide an update on the company’s performance in the first quarter of the financial year.

"For experienced retailers, everything that has happened in the last four months is nice to know, but it all depends on how Christmas trades," Mr McInnes said.

"We’ve got some great Christmas brands; we’ve backed the trucks up in terms of the stock globally; we’ve put on more staff than we’ve ever put on historically, and we’re ready to trade.